Old plight for aussies
England retained the Ashes after rain meant the third Test against Australia at Old Trafford ended in a draw on Monday.
Only 20.3 overs were possible on the fifth and final day, but that was still long enough for England to collapse to 37/3, having been set 332 to win after Australia declared on their overnight 172/7. But England, 2-0 up in the five-match series only had to draw this match to be sure of retaining the Ashes. And they had the result they required when the match was abandoned as a draw at 4.39pm local time.
Earlier, Ryan Harris struck twice in quick succession to remove England captain Alastair Cook and Jonathan Trott before Peter Siddle claimed the prize wicket of Kevin Pietersen.
However, the bad weather for which Manchester venue Old Trafford is infamous, but which had stayed away until Sunday evening, took charge.
At the close, England were 295 runs shy of the victory target, with Joe Root, dropped on four, 13 not out and Ian Bell four not out.
Now the best Australia can hope for is to share the series 2-2. In the event of a drawn campaign, the team that last won the Ashes retains them and in this series that means England following their 3-1 win in Australia in 2010/11.
One consolation for Australia was that this result ended a run of six successive Test defeats, their worst for 29 years, and meant they avoided equalling their all-time record losing streak of seven set between 1885-88.
“It’s a great feeling, a strange feeling. It’s been a strange day for the lads but we have retained it after three games, played good cricket in the first two, fought hard and had a little bit of a luck today with the weather,” England captain Alastair Cook said.
Australia captain Michael Clarke said his side had paid the price for falling 2-0 behind. “They deserved to be 2-0 up. That’s the chance you take when you are 2-0 down here, there can be a bit of rain about. The guys have worked their backsides off here.”
Clarke was named man-of-the-match for his first innings 187 but he said: “It’s nice to make runs but the result is more important.”
Scorecard
Australia (1st innings): 527/7 decl.
England (1st innings): 368
Australia (2nd innings) 172/7 decl.
England (2nd innings): A. Cook lbw b Harris 0, J. Root (not out) 13, J. Trott c Haddin b Harris 11, K. Pietersen c Haddin b Siddle 8, I. Bell (not out) 4. Extras (w1) 1, Total (for 3 wkts, in 20.3 overs) 37.
FoW: 1-0, 2-15, 3-27.
Bowling: Harris 7-3-13-2, Starc 4-2-6-0, Watson 2-2-0-0, Lyon 3-0-8-0, Siddle 3.3-0-8-1, Clarke 1-0-2-0.
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